Posts by Dirk Chatelain

A tenacious, second-year Husker baseball coach takes his underdogs to the conference tournament and wins!

If Darin Erstad’s team pulls it off, it wouldn’t be the first time. This week in 1999, Dave Van Horn took his fifth-seeded Huskers to Oklahoma City and captured NU’s first baseball championship since 1950.

John Cole’s leaping catch in left field to beat Baylor, 4-3, was the unofficial beginning of a baseball boom at Nebraska. It represented one of the greatest (and most improbable) success stories in the history of the athletic department.

Can Erstad reignite the program 14 years later? He probably doesn’t have the arms to win the Big Ten tournament, which begins today in Minneapolis. He’ll probably have to wait another year to make an NCAA …

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Kansas State did something remarkable over the weekend.

By winning its first conference championship in baseball since 1933, the Wildcats became just the fourth major-conference athletic department in the BCS era to earn at least a share of the conference title in football, basketball and baseball.

“Cat town is title town,” K-State athletic director John Currie said as he presented the Big 12 trophy.

The other triple crown winners: Stanford in 1998-99, Texas in 2005-06 and Louisville this year. That’s all according to the Kansas City Star’s Blair Kerkhoff.

Surprisingly, the triple crown hasn’t happened in the Big Ten since Illinois in 1951-52 — I thought for sure Ohio State or Michigan would’ve pulled it off. It hasn’t happened in the SEC since Alabama …

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It’s Friday! That means Ten Big stories in 10 little bites. We hit Tiger Woods and Bubba Starling, Ndamukong Suh and Julie Hermann and conference races in college baseball. But first, the head-scratching new Big Ten schedules.

In case you missed it, Nebraska doesn’t play Ohio State or Michigan in 2014 or ‘15. Neither does Wisconsin. Neither does Iowa.

Why would the Big Ten build a conference schedule whose biggest interdivisional matchup is Michigan vs. Northwestern? Good question.

Theory 1: All this talk about schedule strength as a critical factor for playoff selection is overblown and the Big Ten knows it. Yes, it’s going to be important to strengthen non-conference schedules. But the best way to assure yourself a spot — or two …

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Tuesday morning on Twitter, I threw out this question: Who would you rather have for the 2013-14 college basketball season — senior Doug McDermott or freshman Andrew Wiggins, who announced he’s going to Kansas.

In June 2014, Wiggins is likely to go No. 1 in the NBA Draft. The same night, McDermott is likely to go in the 20s or 30s. Their careers will veer in very different directions. But that’s the NBA. Who will be better in this college season?

Here’s a sampling of responses:

Aaron Boni: “I love dougie fresh, but wiggins all day”

Zach Isherwood: “McDermott no question”

Mike Thielen: “easily Wiggins.”

David Berliner: “Dougie. U know what u have.”

Greg Hill: “Wiggins by a mile.”

Jake Immink: “McDermott. Mclemore …

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Monday’s Chatter — without marquee local sporting events — is starting to take on the characteristics of Fridays. That means lots of small helpings without a main course. Hope that’s OK with you.

>> Friday Nebraska scored a big-time transfer in Alex Lewis. Saturday Lewis was arrested for second-degree assault. Read the report; it isn’t pretty.

If the incident takes place a week ago, Nebraska almost certainly doesn’t offer Lewis a scholarship. But now what? What will Bo Pelini do? He’s taken pride in keeping the Huskers off the police blotter. Based upon that standard, my guess is Pelini will ask Lewis to find another school.

>> Nick Bahe (an intense Tiger Woods fan) and I engaged in a Twitter skirmish last night …

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It’s Friday! That means Ten Big stories in 10 little bites. We hit Saban v. Stoops, Derrick Rose and Kirk Ferentz, Bret Bielema and Alex Gordon, Michael Jordan and Tommie Frazier. But first, a last gasp for a Big Ten title.

Darin Erstad’s team kicks off a series at conference leader Minnesota (11-4) this afternoon. And if Nebraska (12-6) has any hope of winning a regular-season crown, it needs two of three.

Husker fans have to feel good about Kyle Kubat’s chances on Saturday. Question is, can they win a big game without him? Since April 20, the Huskers are 0-6 in games Kubat doesn’t pitch.

>> If you asked me how Nick Saban might respond to Bob Stoops’ SEC comments, this is EXACTLY …

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Andy Staples, one of the best in the sportswriting business, presented his post-spring Top 25 on Tuesday. No surprise that Ohio State was No. 4. What did surprise me is ranking three Legends Division teams from 14-22. And none of them was Nebraska.

Michigan certainly deserves a spot. Northwestern probably does, too. But Michigan State? Unless Mark Dantonio has solved his quarterback problems, I can’t imagine the Spartans in the top 15.

For the record, Nebraska doesn’t even crack Staples’ five “teams he might regret not including.” I’m not about to argue on behalf of the Huskers, who fell apart in Indy. But if Staples is right and the Huskers are the fourth-best team in the division, then Bo Pelini will be in …

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I was born too late to experience the Scoring Explosion. Too late to witness the ’84 Orange Bowl. My first memories of Nebraska football were the ’87 Oklahoma game (ouch!) and the ’88 UCLA game (yikes!). I recall the disappointment of Colorado ’89, then a slow decline in ’90 and ’91.

Those were not the easiest years for a Nebraska kid to love the Huskers.

The only thing more certain than an incomplete pass on third-and-9 was a New Year’s Day bowl loss. Tom Osborne was revered. Beloved, in fact. But in the same way you loved your town’s water tower or your Mom’s chocolate chip cookies. He represented your values. He was home.

I remember the disastrous Citrus Bowl in which Nebraska got creamed …

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It’s Friday! That means Ten Big stories in 10 little bites. We hit the Big Ten and SEC, Tom Ricketts and May snow-outs, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony. But first, Husker football.

We don’t want to play in the Big 12 North again.

We didn’t get into the Big Ten to play Purdue and Minnesota.

The standard for our program should be Michigan and Ohio State, not Wisconsin and Iowa.

With so many bad games, the sellout streak could be in jeopardy.

I’ve heard all of the above statements the past few weeks as the Big Ten moved toward its new East and West divisions. Husker fans are happy to see the Badgers more often. They’re also fearful that playing in the weaker division will …

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You’ve heard the excuses. You’ve seen the numbers.

Nebraska football and basketball are behind the eight ball because of their location. There are 1.8 million people within the borders and that’s just not enough to stockpile elite programs.

Husker football, which benefited from Johnny Rodgers, Dave Rimington, Zach Wiegert, Eric Crouch and dozens of other in-state standouts, has signed a grand total of one native son each of the past two years.

Husker basketball, which surged in the 90s thanks to Nebraskans Rich King, Bruce Chubick, Andre Woolridge and Erick Strickland, hasn’t signed an in-state high school player since 2002. Eleven years!

Football has let a few quality prospects get away recently: Trevor Robinson, Harland Gunn, Kyle Dooley, among others. But the state is producing …

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